


Needing

by beloved_key



Series: Delegation [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen or Pre-Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Langst, Shiro (Voltron) is Missing, Whump, infected wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beloved_key/pseuds/beloved_key
Summary: Things were still shaky, without Shiro, but they were functioning now. Things were going well, and at a sustainable rate.So the last thing Lance wanted to do was rock the boat. They had just managed to attain some kind of equilibrium, and he and Keith had just found some common ground with this whole co-leadership concept.Lance did not want to shake things up for all of them by needing a cryopod.





	Needing

Considering how horrifically things had gone to shit, everything had settled surprisingly nicely with Lance and Keith’s new arrangement.

Pidge was still overworking, but now when Lance’s gentle prodding to go to bed proved ineffective, Keith could come in as Bad Cop and force the issue, and vice versa.

Hunk was still anxious as ever, but with Lance to distract him, and Keith to pull him back to the task at hand, the Yellow Paladin was managing much better.

And while Lance and Keith’s individual efforts had failed, even Allura couldn’t argue against both of them at the same time. Lance’s cajoling, Keith’s rationalizing, and occasionally Coran’s quiet concern (encouraged to speak up by Lance and Keith’s support) convinced the princess to rest more regularly. The bags under her eyes slowly faded, as did Coran’s and Keith’s.

Things were still shaky, without Shiro, but they were functioning now. Things were going well, and at a sustainable rate.

So the last thing Lance wanted to do was rock the boat. They had just managed to attain some kind of equilibrium, and he and Keith had just found some common ground with this whole co-leadership concept.

Lance did not want to shake things up for all of them by needing a cryopod.

So when he was sliced through the shoulder by a Galra soldier’s knife, he didn’t say anything. His yelp was lost in the chaos of the active mission--Keith asked if he was okay, but things were still hectic enough that he’d forgotten by the time it was over--and Lance resolved to take care of it himself.

And in his defense, he’d done everything right! He’d kept the wound wrapped and cleaned with supplies he’d snuck out of the infirmary (he’d become intimately familiar with that place recently, since Coran was now spending most of his time keeping Allura from collapsing, making Lance the de facto nurse). He’d favored his wounded left shoulder, switching to his right hand for training and the like, more thankful than ever to be ambidextrous. He’d tried to stay rested as best he could, with everything that was going on.

But despite his best efforts… Things were busy. And he couldn’t sneak away as often as he probably should’ve to clean his wound. He found himself waking up frequently in the night to drag Pidge back to bed, or pull Hunk from the kitchens, or consult with Allura until she felt satisfied enough to rest. Even favoring his arm, training had resulted in the wound reopening in places more than once.

And Lance could feel it getting infected, could see in the way it was red and swollen, could tell from how his bandages needed changing more often, despite the wound having stopped really bleeding days ago. He knew it was bad, though, when he checked his temperature on a hunch and found it to be hovering at the higher end of 101º.

But he’d be fine. He had to be fine. Everyone was counting on him to be fine. This relative peace they’d found depended on him being fine. So he’d be fine.

He kept telling himself this, over and over. Maybe a little bit too much.

“Lance? You with me?”

Lance jumped, blinking his vision back into focus. He was sitting across from Keith in the kitchen, which was abandoned this early in the morning. They were discussing the day’s plans, what sort of training to do, chores to be done, status of the team, etc. And Lance had totally been zoning out.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” He tried an apologetic grin. The concern didn’t fade from Keith’s face, but he continued anyway.

“I was just asking what you thought about a rest day?”

Lance blinked in surprise. “I mean… Are you sure you want to slow down now?”

Keith shrugged. “It makes sense. We have no leads on Shiro or the empire, and what leads we have coming are waiting for contacts to get back to us, and they won’t be able to until tomorrow at the earliest. Everyone’s been on-edge, more than usual, and I think I remember you mentioning something like this, uh…”

“Mental health days.” Lance’s fever-muddled brain finally caught on.

“Yeah.” Keith confirmed, smirking slightly. “You seemed to think they were important. Something about maintaining sanity.”

Lance forced a laugh. “Well, hey, I guess now’s a good time for it. We gotta take the opportunity when we can, right?”

“Right.” Keith agreed, nodding to indicate the matter settled. “Hey, why don’t I let the others know? You look pretty tired, maybe you can go get some more sleep.”

“Are you sure?” Much as Lance wanted to return to his room, where he could try to deal with his shoulder in peace, he knew Keith didn’t take to the socialization aspect of leadership as much as Lance did. “Whole point of a mental health day is that it’s relaxing for everyone, even you.”

Keith sighed, rolling his eyes. “I can handle one little announcement, Lance. Seriously, you’ve been looking a little… Rough, lately. Go get some sleep, I’ll take care of it.”

Keith seemed pretty certain, and Lance really wasn’t in the mood to fight him on it, so… “If you’re sure.” Lance yawned, forgetting himself and stretching his arms. He winced briefly before he jerked his arms back down to his sides, and Keith eyed him uncertainly. “Thanks for taking care of it.” Lance added by way of distraction.

“No problem.” Keith’s expression was inscrutable, but they parted ways without further comment. Lance knew he should probably try to clean his wound again, but the thought of the unbearable stabbing from the antiseptic, having to pry away the already-soiled bandages, trying to keep his breakfast down throughout the whole undeniably gross cleansing process… He ill-advisedly allowed himself to do as Keith suggested, pausing only to strip off his jacket and shirt to let his shoulder breathe before collapsing straight into bed for a nap.

Seemingly minutes later, he woke with a start to find that someone had gently peeled the bandage away, exposing the angry, swollen, slightly oozing wound on his left shoulder. With a jolt of panic, Lance scanned his room to find…

Keith, standing over Lance’s desk, soaking a clean cloth with antiseptic.

Welp, apparently Lance hadn’t been half as sneaky as he’d thought.

When Keith turned around to find Lance awake, he shot the Blue Paladin a look. His recently-developed “I-want-to-scold-you-but-will-wait-for-the-painful-part-to-be-over” look. Lance swallowed nervously. He was in trouble.

“I guess I know what happened on that mission awhile back.” Keith commented lightly, coming over to sit on the edge of Lance’s bed. Lance winced at his forced-casual tone.

“I can explai--agh!” He cut off with a pained cry as Keith pressed the cloth to his wound. Vaguely, Lance figured he probably deserved it, but that didn’t stop him from being grateful when Keith let him squeeze the life out of his free hand.

“I understand not wanting to worry anyone, but I would’ve hoped you’d trust me enough to come to me when it got this bad.” Keith muttered as the stabbing pain of the antiseptic doing its job faded to a persistent sting, and Keith pulled the cloth away. He stood up before Lance could reply, returning to the supplies he’d gathered to prepare a fresh wrapping.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you!” Lance grit out, still tense from the pain in his shoulder. It ached, it burned, and now it stung, too, but at least it had been cleaned properly for the first time in what was probably way too long. “I-I honestly thought I could handle it, a-and I did for awhile, but things got busier, and I didn’t want to mess things up when we’d just gotten them settled, a-a-and…”

He trailed off when Keith just stared down at him, face unreadable. Finally, Lance looked away, sighing.

“This was stupid of me. I’m sorry.”

Lance didn’t look up when Keith started binding his wound, didn’t look up when it was finished, didn’t look up when Keith handed him some painkillers and a glass of water to down. He didn’t look up until he felt Keith’s weight at the edge of the bed again, and heard him say “hey.”

Lance glanced up sheepishly, tears of pain and regret threatening his eyes, to find Keith smiling at him with unusual tenderness. “I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I was pissed at you for wanting to be strong. So don’t worry. I’m not mad, really.”

Lance sniffed. “I’d get it if you were.” His voice was wobbly too, ugh.

Keith must’ve heard it, because he suddenly looked a bit panicked. “No, I mean, seriously, it’s okay--well, no, it’s not okay, but I mean--I’m not mad, and I, um…” He took a deep breath, visibly composing his next sentence. “I’m not mad, or upset, really. I was just worried about you. And I need you to know that this whole co-leadership, you’ve-got-my-back thing…”

Keith hesitated, then lay a hand over Lance’s, determinedly looking the Blue Paladin in the eyes.

“It goes both ways. I’ve got your back, too. So if you need me, just let me know.” He smiled slightly. “Because I know you’ll do the same for me. Understand?”

Lance sniffled again, tears pouring over his cheeks against his will. Keith’s eyes widened in panic.

“I-I, shit, was that wrong? I didn’t mean to, quiznak, uh, um…” Keith suddenly lurched forward, grabbing Lance in a hug, still stammering urgently and asking what he’d said wrong. Lance managed a watery laugh.

“Keith, man, it’s okay. I’m happy-crying.”

Keith froze, then slowly pulled back, not letting go of Lance. “You’re sure?”

Lance shrugged. “Well, there’s a little bit of exhaustion-crying in there, and a fair bit of ow-ow-oh-the-pain crying, but mostly happy-crying, yeah. I uh,” Now Lance was feeling awkward. “It means a lot, to hear you say that. That you’ve got my back, I mean.”

“I meant it!” Keith insisted. “I, um, I’m not good at saying it, but I meant it, I swear.”

Lance laughed again. “I know, man, I know. It just really… Really means a lot.”

Keith nodded, still looking a bit nervous that Lance was crying. “Okay. Okay, good.” They sat in silence for a moment, before Keith spoke up again. “You, uh, can probably sleep now.”

“Yeah, that sounds nice.” Lance agreed, easing himself down onto his bed and curling up under the covers.

“I can, uh… Leave.” Keith muttered, looking away.

“You can.” Lance answered, eyes already sliding shut. “But you don’t have to, y’know? If you want to, but… I wouldn’t mind, I mean.”

Lance drifted off before he could hear Keith’s answer, but he woke up several hours later to see Keith on the bed next to him, slumped over with his back against the wall, fast asleep. Lance smiled to himself, internally debating on whether or not he’d tease Keith about this later.

With a sleepy mumble, Keith slid further down the wall, resting his head next to Lance’s.

Nah, Lance decided, letting his eyes slide closed with a smile. He was gonna keep this moment to himself.

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel to one of my most popular works! Really proud of this one too, feel free to comment/kudos, love you!


End file.
